One of Vancouver’s largest technology companies is about to get bit bigger.
Software firm ACL Services Ltd. is acquiring New Jersey-based Rsam in a deal that will add 150 workers to its roster.
“We’ll [more than] double our R&D capacity with this acquisition,” ACL CEO Laurie Schultz told Business in Vancouver.
“We’re recognized for global scale and operational excellence. They’re recognized for being a strong growth player in security, so it’s one plus one equals three.”
ACL is best known for its auditing software, and its governance, risk management compliance (GRC) software.
Schultz said the acquisition puts her company in a better position to offer broader GRC management tools.
The two companies will be working together to marry their technologies on an integrated platform.
Rsam CEO and co-founder Vivek Shivananda will report directly to Shultz along with chief technology officer and co-founder Kevin Day.
“What we don’t want to do is screw up any momentum in their business so [Shivananda] will run a fully contained operating unit. We want him to stay where he is. We don’t want to be disruptive to his team or culture,” Shultz said.
The addition of the Rsam staff brings ACL’s global headcount to 500 workers spread across offices in Vancouver, London, Paris, Singapore, New Jersey and Bangalore.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
However, the acquisition follows a $50-million investment by Norwest Venture Partners in 2017 in ACL.
Schultz said ACL has been prioritizing acquisitions ever since bringing in Norwest as an investment partner just over a year ago.
ACL met with 25 organizations before landing on Rsam as an acquisition target.
“[Rsam] will give us an additional footprint in the U.S.,” Shultz said, adding most of ACL’s North American employees are based in Vancouver.
“When you consider about 55% of our revenues are in the U.S., it would make sense that we expand our sales capability, our marketing capability there.”
